While the lens on the iPhone leaves much to be desired as far as picture quality goes, it has been getting better for every new generation of the iPhone, especially the iPhone 4s.
While there are plenty of devices & attachments on the market for making your iPhone that make it into a zoom lens or specialty hipster device, here are two really cheap and effective hacks to play with this weekend
1. The Laser Pointer Lens (~$2)
lens hack on the left, result on the right
via PetaPixel & Zaheer Blog
Apparently if you take apart any cheap laser pointer and take out the lens that’s designed to point the laser light, and affix it to your iPhone (with something like scotch tape), it will turn your iPhone into a macro shooter.
2. A Drop of Water (Free!)
the setup on the left, the result on the right
via Scientific American & Lifehacker
Assuming you’re comfortable with this method (I haven’t tested how waterproof the lens is myself, though I’d imagine it’s probably fine) – you can simply add a drop of water to the lens and the surface tension will keep the drop attached to the lens while you take a shot of something from above that will let you use the iPhone as a microscope-like lens.
Since water is super wobbly, it’s a good idea to rest the iPhone on the edge of a table or some other solid surface until the wobble goes away. Then you can experiment with whaterever you want to magnify & take a photo of, as long as you place it right underneath. This seems a little more limited than option 1, but I’d be interested in seeing the two techniques side by side.
(Heck, comment if interested and I might run out and do this comparison myself.)
Do a comparison! :D